#pokemon reviews

[adobe-outdesign]

Could you review the shiny Venipede line, please?

Venipede: Venipede has an alright shiny, basically just desaturating the bright red of the original into a bronze-y brown color. It's distinct enough from the original, but it doesn't seem to have much meaning to it and isn't terribly exciting compared to the rest of the line.

And speaking of the rest of the line, it's not really consistent there, either. Considering that its evos swap red for a bright turquoise, it seems like the body should be turquoise here as well—or at least, the black markings should be. Perhaps the green could also change to purple or something to match Whirlipeded. It's not a huge deal or anything, but basically it just feels like there's missed potential here.

Whirlipede: Whirlipede swaps red for a neon-bright turquoise color, which really pops compared to the original and looks nice against the purple. However, the rest of the body is a bit more mid, as all it does is slightly darken the body and make the eye more pink, neither change being particularly visible. Just making it gray would've been fine, but making it red could've also been a cool nod to Scolipede. Regardless, it looks pretty cool.

Scolipede: Scolipede is the one that really stands out in this line, sporting neon turquoise markings against a pinkish red color. I like that the underbelly and eye were subtly tweaked to accommodate the new blue tones, and the additional contrast from the markings actually makes this shiny look a bit better than the original. Scolipede is also venomous, so the aposematism in this shiny feels like it makes a lot of sense. My only nitpick is that while the red is slightly more pink, it could stand to be a bit more distinct from the original in that regard. Still, it's not as bothersome as on Whirlipede because of how much more prominent the markings are, and it otherwise looks great.

Overall: Venipede's shiny is high-contrast enough but not really consistent with the the rest of the line, while Whirlipede's is maybe just a bit too close to the original. Scolipede, however, really makes the concept work and is the best out of the line.

[bogleech]

Pokemon Reviews: Iron Thorns

[avillanappears]

okay, let's do something different! I've always wanted to do creature design reviews, but it's always felt like I'm obligated to make it a whole Thing. I need branding, and my own website, and tshirts or whatever. and that can come, but I just want to ramble a bit for now. maybe these'll turn into something bigger, maybe they won't. but at least they'll be out there!

hey, it's psyduck! pokemon was the first thing I could call myself a real "fan" of, and it introduced me to the idea of creature design. I already loved animals, and you're telling me you can just....make up new ones? I'm onboard forever! and my favorite pokemon is and will probably always be psyduck, so it makes sense to start with this goober. let's take a gander!

psyduck is an odd duck. with gamefreaks insistence on never showing concept art or behind the scenes infonwe'll probably never know who came up with this thing, and that's a shame. I want to shake whoever made psyducks hand, because they struck a whole mine of gold. you take a duckling, add on some platypus elements like the weird beak shape and clawed limbs, make it yellow and bulbous to invoke a rubber ducky, and a little lizard tail for kind of a "cute mascot kaiju" vibe. you know what I mean? like pigmon or booska? psyduck feels in the same vein as critters like those to me.

fits right in, doesn't it?

and really, psyducks just cute. it’s sooo cute! it’s cute in the same way as a baby crow or echidna or something. it has no legs, stubby fingers, an awkwardly shaped bill, and scruffy hair/feathers it can’t even groom with those goofy arms. pokemon in general isn’t afraid to let its cutest designs also be slightly goofy, and I think that’s one of the big keys to its success. people underestimate the value of letting things be a bit uncool. and those eyes! the staring, pinprick pupil saucer eyes of a beautiful angel. psyducks is perfect.

but psyducks more than just a squishable widdle face. it has fabulous secret powers! its original pokedex entry called it a “wily” pokemon who acts pathetic to get the drop on you, which was quickly retconned into something even more fascinating. psyduck has psychic powers, and waay too many for a pure water brain to handle. it’s kind of a fascinating gimmick, isn’t it? the idea that esp is harmful to your own brain is simple, but feels kind of obvious doesn’t it? pushing your mind that far past its limits can’t be good for you.

psyduck is a lovely little creation. we may never know who decided an adorable duckling mascot should be full of cosmic secrets beyond its comprehension, but it’s instantly iconic and lovable. I’ve had my own share of headaches, and there’s something about psyduck I can really click with. I feel you, lil buddy. I understand.

golduck is alright, I guess

[vixivulpixel]

Review of Roaring Moon!

[talonflamee]

hey king im like emotional about anorith rn it's literally an anomalocaris, what are your personal thoughts on the guy?

yayyyyy anorith so so awesome

personally i like armaldo more (my favorite fossil pokemon actually next to kabutops) but anorith is REALLY cute i’m always happy to see them and their Shape. very nice and appealing design that’s recognizable but still pokemon-ified. i think if i had to complain i’d like anorith’s body to be a bit longer to more resemble anomalocaris but overall a very cool funny guy

[jaybug-jabbers]

Pokemon Infinite Fusion: A Review

Hey, folks. As you may recall, I've played a couple pokemon fan games by now that use pokemon fusions as their central premise. So when I heard of a new fusion game that boasted a whopping 176,400 possible fusion combinations, I obviously had to try it out. I've written a little review of my experiences below. (Contains mild spoilers about game mechanics and features, but I do not spoil any major plot points)

Introduction

Previous fan games, such as Pokemon Fusion Generation and Fusion Generation 2, have been very enjoyable forays into the world of pokemon fusion, and the number of fusions available from those games already felt incredible. It provided for so much entertainment and experimentation. And yet, the world of pokemon fusions has been expanded even further. Pokemon Infinite Fusion, while not quite infinite, is named very appropriately, since the number of possible combinations may as well be infinite. The game takes place in Kanto/Johto and contains all the original pokemon from those reigons, as well as an expanded Dex roster that also offers selections from gens 3 - 7. This means the total number of base pokemon ends up at 420. And the wild part? Is that you have complete freedom to fuse any two pokemon from this list. If you do the math, that means there are 176,400 possible total fusions. You may be wondering how on earth someone made a game where this is even possible.

The biggest catch here is that not every single fusion has hand-crafted sprites. Instead, it often draws from a sprite pool that has been generated by the popular Pokemon Fusion Generator website. You might remember back in the day when this website first rose to popularity and sort of kicked off the original pokefusion trend among fans. The site works by mashing the sprites together in a way that roughly makes sense. Here is an example:

As such, the sprites often look a bit awkward, but they give a general idea of a fusion. Many pokemon fusions rely on this database of sprites, since as you may imagine, hand-crafting 176,400 combinations is no small feat.

HOWEVER. There still are over 50,000 hand-crafted sprites in the game for fusions. The number is simply staggering, and this was accomplished because many, many different sprite artists contributed to the project. What's more, new hand-made sprites are still being made all the time by the community, and you can even make your own and easily add them into the game yourself. For example, if you wanted to make your own Caterpie/Gyarados combo to replace the auto-generated one above, you can! This game is truly a labor of love on a massive scale, and it's inspiring to see.

In my opinion, the system that Infinite Fusion has works well. When it comes to in-game trainers, they almost always have only pokemon with custom-made sprites, so it doesn't feel too jarring to play. Meanwhile, the auto-generated sprites allow for the total flexibility and freedom of combining literally any two pokes. Also, while some auto-generated sprites are extremely awkward, many of them are actually quite passable and some could even be confused as custom sprites. So don't let the fact that not every single sprite is custom-made put you off, because I promise this game is still such a joy.

The Fusions

The main draw of this game, of course, are the fusions. So let's address them for a bit. How exactly do they work in this game? The basic premise of the game is very simple, but effective: the Silph Co has invented a new product called DNA Splicers. These can be bought at any Pokemart. They are a single-use item that will allow you to fuse any two base pokemon together. (Lorewise, the DNA Splicers are based off the item in Pokemon Black/White 2 that is used to fuse Kyurem with Reshiram or Zekrom) And that's it! When you select the two pokemon, you have a choice of 2 different fusions. Just as with the original Pokemon Fusion website, you can combine a pokemon by choosing one species for the 'head' and colors and one species for the 'body.' This influences how the fusion looks, of course, and also impacts exactly how the stats are combined in the resulting pokemon, too. Later on there's also a nice product in the Marts that is a 'DNA Inverser' that lets you immediately create the inverse fusion, as well. It's quick and easy, no muss, no fuss. You also can unfuse pokemon at any time.

In this game, you will encounter trainers with pokemon fusions all the time, as well. Because the DNA Splicers are a hot new fad, pretty much everyone in Kanto wants to try them out. This means that fighting trainers in this game is guaranteed to be endlessly entertaining, because you are seeing new fusions literally all the time, throughout the entire game. The Gym Leaders and E4 (and your rival) boast some of the most exciting combinations, as they should. Also, you will see fused pokemon in the wild, too, in addition to the normal base species. This means that even just exploring or grinding is continually entertaining.

The fusions function in game pretty much as you would expect. Their movesets are a combination of the two base pokemon. Their stats are a combination of the two individuals. When you first fuse them, you get to choose which of the Abilities you'd like to have for the resulting fusion. The Types are generally combined so that the first typing of the Head pokemon is mixed with the second typing of the Body pokemon. As for evolutions, those exist independently. So, for example, if you have a Charmander/Caterpie fusion, it will evolve into a Charmander/Metapod fusion at level 7, and then a Charmander/Butterfree fusion at level 10, and a Charmeleon/Butterfree at level 16, etc.

A pretty reasonable question you might have is "how the heck does the game even handle this many fusions"? I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea how they fit this many pokemon slots into the game (including a Pokedex that has all of them!!) Obviously it would be impossible with a ROM hack, but of course this is a fan game and thus does not operate under the same constraints. (That said, the number of pokemon it handles is still incredibly impressive) I do know the game total filesize is understandably quite large if you choose to download the 'standard' version of the game, because it has a butt-ton of sprites. Fortunately, you can opt for the 'light' version of the game if you'd rather not download all those sprites at once, and the game can connect and download sprites as needed. This is the version I use and it works great.

As for the fusions themselves, I love the vast majority of the sprites. They run the gamit from pretty straightforward fusions to intensely creative and clever designs. Some look very cursed in a good way, and above all, they're sure to be entertaining, if nothing more.

I will make one brief note of warning: there are many artists contributing to this game, so naturally the sprites will vary. Occasionally there is a sprite I find that I would personally consider to be . . . not matching the tone of Pokemon (Parasect/Ursaring for example has bloody stumps for its forearms, with dripping blood, which to me just feels a little too gory and out of place for Pokemon) or something that's bordering on inappropriate. The slightly 'inappropriate' ones are sprite fusions made for particular pokemon species that are known to be sexualized by fans (namely, Lopunny and Gardevoir). I have not encountered anything overtly inappropriate, mind you-- but some are clearly sexualized, and that understandably can make some people uncomfortable, myself included. Fortunately that's quite easy to avoid, as you merely need to avoid fusing pokemon of those particular species.

Other Features

So, the devs of this fan game are very frank about the fact this game does not focus much on plot. It is, in their words, essentially "Pokemon Red, but with fusions." That said, there is a basic plot to this game that is slightly altered from the usual Red plot. Team Rocket is up to no good, but their schemes now are strongly linked to the exciting new fusion technology. I won't spoil the storyline, but I do want to say the climax of the story is very satisfying and especially rewarding to hardcore pokemon fans.

Additionally, Infinite Fusion offers a lot of delightful QoL upgrades and bonus content. It boasts a ton of sidequests, mostly streamlined by offering a Hotel in towns where the sidequest NPCs are gathered (and a way of easily tracking your quests and rewards). The game also allows you to rematch trainers as much as you'd like, and trainers' pokemon grow stronger and will even evolve when you rematch them enough times. This is very convenient if you'd like to do some grinding. There are a lot of modern pokemon moves added to the game, Fairy typing, and plenty of other modern upgrades. The game also offers an integrated Randomizer mode, a speed-up button, a WonderTrade simulator to give you all kinds of random fusions, battle facilities and other goodies to maximize its replayability and its streamer/YouTuber-friendlyness.

Some of my favorite features include Pokeradar for finding rare pokemon and Hidden abilities, which includes a very handy display of all possible pokemon encounters in a given area once you've discovered them all. Another useful addition are in-game items that replace the need for HM moves, but are integrated in a very reasonable way. Basically, you start off needing to use HM moves, but eventually can earn special items that replace the need for HM moves. Usually you end up earning these items around the time you'd like to replace the HM move with a more useful moveset, so it works out very well.

I think my most favorite thing, though, are just all the NPCs with changed dialogue and fun jokes and nods that the game contains. You can tell a lot of love went into the game by fans who truly do love Pokemon. Some of these references include nods to Pokegod rumors, details from manga or anime, other pokemon games and other video games, and so forth.

There are a lot of little details, including an updated Safari Zone and even a Team Rocket black market, where you can purchase pokemon and unique items! As such, I want to emphasize that there's plenty to explore and see, despite the plot being largely the same. And with a full Kanto game + Johto & Sevii islands postgame, there is plenty of content.

My Run

Pokemon is a game largely defined by choice. While "catch them all" may be the catchphrase they introduced in the US, that has never truly captured the spirit of pokemon. Pokemon is more about the ones you choose. Pokemon Infinite Fusion expands that power of choice to the nth degree, so much so that you can very easily suffer from decision paralysis. In a game that gives you 176,400 pokemon to choose from, how can you possibly decide?

I handled this question by narrowing things down a little. I often do all-bug challenge runs of pokemon games, so I decided my run would be limited to bug types only. But even with that narrowing things down, the number of options were still quite dizzying. I definitely did a lot more team shuffling and changing than I normally do. I know I spent hours just fusing things to see what they'd look like. (There's a very handy website to speed this process up, allowing you to preview fusions.) It was overwhelming at times. But ultimately, I did settle on a final team.

Surprisingly, this team often didn't consist of my absolute top picks of fusions. For example, the Yanmega/Kabutops I have looks awesome, but I think I like the sprite of Butterfree/Kabutops a little bit more. However, my choices were constrained by things other than mere aesthetics. I did want a team with decent synergy and coverage, too. I think that's an interesting thing to think about. In life, you may not even need to be the Very Best to still be an excellent pokemon-- or to be chosen.

Sasspora - Parasect/Ninjask - Bug/Flying - Infiltrator - Silver Powder

Moveset: Screech/Aerial Ace/X-Scissor/Spore

Notes: Sass unfortunately suffers from never learning a really good Flying STAB in his learnset. Aerial Ace was the best I could do for him. Still, Spore abuse and his fantastic speed take him very far.

Zippy Zap - Beedrill/Jolteon - Bug/Electric - Volt Absorb - Amulet Coin

Moveset: Quick Attack/Dig/Thunderbolt/Thunder

Notes: This fusion emphasizes Beedrill's weaker stats when compared to the inverse fusion. Despite that fact, Zip Zap continued to be invaluable on my team all the way through to the very end, hitting above his weight. He offered vital Electric coverage and was a check to fellow Electric types.

Pomegranite - Butterfree/Rapidash - Bug/Fire - Compound Eyes - TwistedSpoon

Moveset: Tailwind/Flare Blitz/Fire Blast/Psychic

Notes: Compound Eyes + Fire Blast is pretty cool lol

Peekaboo - Yanmega/Kabutops - Bug/Water - Swift Swim - Rocky Helmet

Moveset: Night Slash/Air Slash/Surf/Aqua Jet

Notes: I knew I had to fuse the Horseshoe Crab/trilobite-inspired Kabutops with a bug type; he was just too cool to pass up. Night Slash was very useful coverage on Ghosts, which may not come up often but when it did, it saved us big time.

Purple Rain - Ledian/Flygon - Bug/Dragon - Levitate - Soft Sand

Moveset: Fly/Bug Buzz/Rock Slide/Earthquake

Notes: When I was playing around with fusions, and I un-fused my Ledyba, it suddenly turned into a shiny. My guess is the game re-rolls things when you un-fuse pokemon so each time you un-fuse a pokemon, there's the chance they become shiny. It was pretty cool, but the best part was the shiny in this game was purple. A million times better than the actual shiny. So I had to use it.

Flygon was the perfect chance for that. We all know Flygon should have been Bug/Dragon, as it's based on an Antlion, both the larva and adult. Finally, Flygon could fulfill its true destiny. EQ and Rock Slide may not have been STAB but they both were essential to the team. The wide range of resistances was very nice, too.

Leonardo - Articuno/Armaldo - Ice/Bug - Battle Armor - Leftovers

Moveset: Brine/Freeze-Dry/Rock Blast/X-Scissor

Notes: My final 6th slot was kind of an uncertain one for a while, until I decided Bug/Fairy would be fun. For a long time I went with a Armaldo/Clefable fusion. I found it underwhelming and decided to change; an Ice type could still act as my designated dragon-killer. There wasn't any sprite done for Articuno/Armaldo at the time I was playing, so I did my best to make my own and added it into the game.

Conclusion

Play this game! Seriously, it is so good and you'll have so much fun. The replayability is practically infinite, and if you're especially passionate about pokemon fusions, you can submit your own sprite edits to be included in the sprite packs that everyone can download! The game has appeal for everyone, from super casual players, to streamers, to challenge runners and everyone in between.

Happy fusing!

[good-pokemon-center-reviews]

[wiptw]

Pokémon Stadium Series

Nintendo 64 - Nintendo - 2000 to 2001

You as a Pokémon fan are absolutely fucking spoiled these days. Aside from the mainline games you have spinoffs and fangames offering different experiences, you have entire websites dedicated to documenting everything down to the internal maths of the series, there's no end to the free content you can access with an internet connection between emulators and battle sites like 'Showdown!', and it's now socially acceptable in most circles to be older than 13 and have something with Pikachu's face plastered on it (especially if you're female presenting, especially if your friend group is also infected with the Pokémon hype). Back in my day™ you had almost none of this. You had the anime on Saturday mornings, you had the early run Pokémon licensed merch which WOULD get you called a baby if you continued buying past 10-12, and you had the games. Those sweet, sweet games that indoctrinated a generation of young people into being gamers and awoke a horde of JRPG addicts.

Literally Me

So remember this when I tell you that Pokémon Stadium, both one and two, aren't great games because they do something back then that you can't get today; they're great for what they did back then. So Pokemon Stadium 1&2 were a duology of games from 2000 and 2001 respectively that allowed players to battle Pokemon in 3D, with the addition of some side content such as minigames included to prevent the game from being 100% Pokemon battles. Because otherwise, the game is in fact navigating a series of menus and completing Pokémon battles with 3D models.

Whether it's taking on the gym gauntlets, the marathon of battles in the Pokémon cups, or just free battles with friends and loved ones, 98% of the experience is either selecting Pokémon from a roster of pre-built 'rentals' or transferring them from a saved game using the Transfer Pak, then fighting them in a series of 3D environments. An experience which you can definitely do today using web apps but as I said earlier, we didn't have that.

The peak of Pokémon battles in 2000

So if you're buying Pokémon Stadium (either version really) you're already probably a Pokémon fan right? So that means you have Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal, so why not just play that game and get the full experience? The fun of exploring, talking to NPCs, discovering new and exotic locations? Simple, because in those games battles looked like this

While in Stadium, battles looked like this

If you grew up watching the anime while playing the Gameboy games, there was this special kind of dissonance where you might find yourself saying "Yeah, (for the time) these graphics are RADICAL but I wish I had something closer to these cool Pokémon Battles they had in the anime." As you hide under the covers with your Gameboy Color worm light, nestled in your Ash Ketchum pajamas while you attempt for the 100th time to capture a ditto. Pokémon Stadium was the answer to this dissonance, providing you with vibrant 3D graphics unlike anything you'd ever seen before; bringing Pokémon to life in a way that would be unmatched until Colosseum came out during the Gamecube era.

So, to actual mechanics, you play both games pretty similarly; by building a team of Pokémon (either on your handheld or by using the rental mons the game provides) and take part in a series of battles to become the ultimate battle master. To use your own Pokémon, you'd need to use the aforementioned 'Transfer Pak' to plug in a copy of Red/Blue/Yellow (for 1) or Gold/Silver/Crystal (for 2) with a game saved to the cartridge; otherwise the rental Pokémon covered all released Pokémon (except for some hidden ones) allowing you to build your dream team, sans a few caveats here and there.

Evolved Pokémon have better stats but worse moves, while weaker Pokémon tend to have better moves to compensate

In terms of WHERE you can battle, there's two choices: Either in the Gym Leader Castle, or the Tournaments held in the center of the map on either game. Either way, the game will then have you battle through a series of 3v3 matches versus a set number of trainers who will also select 3 random mons from their full team of six.

A bit bare bones, but there's some spice to how things are run. For one, the rental system was a huge thing for us younger players back in the day. Even if you had the games some Pokémon were hard to catch, had evolution requirements some players couldn't complete (like the trade-mons), or were locked to a version you didn't have. The rental mons give you a list of every Pokémon (some exceptions, but not many) and then lets you build your dream team. Sure, you can't set their moves, EVs, IVs, and it's the era before abilities and natures but I CAN HAVE A MEOWTH/PERSIAN ON MY TEAM. Do you know what I had to do as a child to have this Pokémon outside of Stadium? I had to find someone in the American South who also enjoyed Pokémon, hoped they had Blue instead of Red, hoped they had a link cable, then get them to agree to a trade despite both of us being children (and therefore, objectively terrible) which likely meant giving away a rare Pokémon in exchange for what amounted to common garbage in their game because it was Version fucking Exclusivity™ and everyone seemed to know that meant you'd do anything to get that one fucking Pokémon you wanted.

In the handheld games, if you wanted to build your dream team then likely you'd have to put in some more effort than other games of the time would've required of you. With Stadium, your dreams come true, and if you already have that dream team you can just import them to fight in glorious 3D. Circumventing the fact that rental Pokémon are kinda terrible overall.

Don't feel like building? The challenge cup mode that gives you randomized team comps that has it's own charm (for masochists)

Not to say all of them were bad but construct a normal distribution of 'Good' to 'Bad' picks then that graph is gonna skew left so hard you'd be forgiven for thinking it was just a straight line. To keep every choice 'viable' Pokémon rentals were balanced around stats and moves. More powerful evolved Pokémon and Pokémon with high Base Stat Totals (BST) were given weaker moves and first form and low BST Pokémon were given generally better moves. Charizard might have better stats than Charmeleon and Charmander but his only fire type move is going to be something like Fire Spin. Conversely, Charmander might have Fire Blast but his stats are gonna make him an easy target for the computer's pokemon, which are not bound to the same builds as the rental mons you're using.

Once your team is assembled, then you're off to battle trainer after trainer after trainer with beautifully scored (for the Nintendo 64) soundtracks giving you an unearned sense of importance every step of the way. Battles themselves are conducted with a weird, but functional control layout where A and B access sub menus you then check with the R button before finalizing with the c-buttons, which on original hardware or a USB N64 controller is fine but on emulation with a more modern controller like Logitech, can be a little nerve wracking as you worry about whether your 'up' input on the control stick was up enough for the game or if you accidentally drifted right or left using an unintended move.

fun fact: the name of imported Pokémon affects their coloration in Stadium

Battles are also largely regulated by (at the time) tournament standard rules. Little and Pokecup have level restrictions, and all three non-random cups include clauses for sleep, held items, and repeat Pokémon. Additionally, in any cup if you win the round with all 3 Pokémon still in tact, you're granted a continue; meaning you can retry the battle if you lose. Additionally, there is no 'draw' outcome in these games. Use a move like Explosion or Selfdestruct and the game will register it as your loss on your final Pokémon, regardless of whether you took down the opposing fighter with you or not.

You'll be doing a LOT of back-to-back fights here against trainers with varied team comps, but even with over 246 Pokémon in the available potential lineup you'll get tired fast of fighting. This is, however, slightly mitigated by the 3v3 nature of the matches but even so be ready to here the same Pokémon noises, watch the same effects play out, and wait for the same health bars to tick down over and over as you claw your way to the spot of Pokémon Master.

The art style of non-battle scenes like the main map and minigame plaza have that nice, 90's charm to them as well.

If you do get tired of battling it out, then Stadium 1 and 2 both offer minigames for players to partake in. Either in a tournament format or by using the free-play browser, players are able to take part in a multitude of different Mario Party-esque (without the hand burning) minigames featuring the Pokémon as stars. Minigames consist of stick twirling, button mashing, and point collecting all while controlling fan favorite Pokémon such as Togepi, Eevee, Scyther, and Pichu with no real rhyme or reason behind why these game exist aside from a amusement park theming the minigame zones have for their icons and menus.

You won't get a real explanation as to why you're racing Donphans, cutting logs as Scythers and Pinsirs, or playing Simon Says with a bunch of Clefairy, but you don't really need that either. The games are fun, the models are charming, and watching Clefairy get smacked in the head for each wrong input brings me a level of joy I should probably talk about with my therapist. You won't likely spend hours in this mode, but it's a nice breather from the onslaught of battles otherwise.

fun fact: I still won't talk to some people because of the outcomes to Rampage Rollout over two decades ago. You know who you are.

Additionally there's a quiz minigame separate from the main selection of minigames with easy/normal/hard difficulty selections. Players compete to see who can be the first to get a number of questions correct before anyone else based on facts about the Pokémon (typing, size, silhouette, etc) or facts about the game (where you can find things in the game, names of routes and towns, names of figures in the game).

It's not the most challenging on easy or normal, but playing on hard the game will try to screw you with trick questions so playing with others becomes a balance of "do I let the question play out, or attempt to steal it before someone else can answer correctly?"

Sometimes even playing the game won't prepare you for how out of pocket the questions can get

The real advantage of 2 over 1 is that, in addition to minigames, the game has the trainer academy; a kind of in-depth battle tutorial to teach players not only the basics of Pokémon fighting, but also some secrets as well

You can learn about held items, a feature new to the second generation, as well as participate in mock battles to demonstrate the materials you've been reading and quizzed on. Some of this information for the time too was obscure or hidden knowledge, like the fact that using Defense Curl before using Rollout would boost the damage significantly or that using Stomp on an opponent who used minimize would double the damage.

Some type matchups just make sense, like Ground v Electric.

Overall though what really makes this game is the presentation. The soundtrack does a great job selling the feeling Nintendo wants you to experience, climbing the ladder in a tournament or the Gym Leaders Castle makes you feel powerful, and the little details on top of it all just tie it together in a nice package.

The fights, for example, are also narrated by "The Announcer". A bombastic voice shouting over every detail of a fight. When you score a crit, when you apply a status effect, even using certain moves will get the announcer loudly narrating each detail like a Pokémon prize fight. Seeing the ground rip apart when you use Earthquake is only half the charm, the other half comes from that man yelling in your ears "A DEVESTATING EARTHQUAKE ATTACK!". Clearing gyms or clearing opponents in one of the cups grants you gym badges, a dream for any child growing up on the handheld classics or watching the anime who wished they too could earn shiny bits of metal that gave them an inflated sense of importance.

I would literally kill everyone I came across if it'd get me a real life Zephyr Badge.

Stadium 1 and 2 aren't evergreen classics. They're stuck in Gens 1 and 2 respectively, the roster of Pokémon while impressive is largely useless and makes collecting trophies way harder than it has to be, and the games were made before things like abilities and double battles were introduced, leading to the Pokémon battling game missing out on the generation of Pokémon that made battling more fun (Revolution doesn't count, Revolution is dead to me and disappoints me more than I disappoint myself.)

But for the time especially, it gave fans an opportunity to experience a form of Pokémon more advanced than what the handhelds could output. It was a window into a world of potential that wouldn't be truly fulfilled until arguably the 3DS era of Pokémon released, and gave fans a fun little romp handcrafted for them at every twist and turn. Whether you were a gamer or you enjoyed the anime, there was something here for you.

Overall: 7/10 Sound: 8/10 (for the time) Graphics: 9/10 (for the time) Memorable Moments: Stadium 1: Hearing about Mewtwo, thinking he was an urban legend, then finding out he wasn't Stadium 2: Finally beating the elite 4 using only rental mons.

[tvheadfalls]

been wanting to play around w pokemon ocs and remembered i could repurpose bailey. im imagining nettle just finishing the main campaign of a region while bailey was off basically doing the professor oak dex challenge. bailey where have you been. i havent seen you in weeks.

[parasolladyansy]

DxP recap & thoughts

🌧️ Diamond x Pearl REWRITE spoilers ahead!

If you haven’t caught up with the story (or don’t care lol), come back when you’ve read up to the end of Chapter 2.

—

Hi-ho! So, for this Sunday, I thought I’d do something a little different, & kind of do a “recap episode” lol ;u;

I reread DxP REWRITE from start to finish. The biggest feelings I got were “wow, I did all that!”, & “this story is a lot more coherent than I remember it being lol”.

Funny to think about how this just started from the intrusive thought of “I MUST RESCUE RAGGED TRAIN MAN. With time travel! & PLOT!”

New thoughts & ideas came to mind, between rereading this & the other AU’s I’ve been working with (that happens sometimes, where I can only continue working on a thing when I switch gears, or “tracks” as our monochromatic friends would say lol)

I’d like to show more of Emmet’s more positive personality. Through chapters 1-2, we saw his more competitive side, his conductor side, but not so much that shining optimism he has. At the end of Chapter 2 there, he let himself be vulnerable, getting some heavy things off his chest.

Between that & seeing his brother again, alive & well (even if he doesn’t remember who he was), has to have helped his mental state. Maybe even allow him a little more hope, finding more reason to trust Ansy & Ikrit as well as this journey they’re on.

Meanwhile, Ingo is in a very vulnerable state. He’s been recovering memories, traveling with Mizumi & Sasmu to reconnect with his lost past. He catches a glimpse of someone “verrry important”, & hit a bit of a wall, trying to get a closer look.

This next chapter I fully intend to give more attention to him & our friends in the past as they work through this.

—

I’d like to thank all of you again - I feel like I’ll never stop feeling grateful. 8u8 Next Sunday, I may just post the cover, depending on what I can do. The pace is likely going to be slower as I’m very behind schedule here, but I’d like to get back on this train. 🛤️

[overchromatic]

[adobe-outdesign]

Please review my favorite shiny, shiny toucannon

Toucannon: Shiny Toucannon is indeed really good. The beak has to maintain the warm to cold aspect in order to make the concept work, so here they used a very pretty hot pink that gradually goes purple and then blue. Not only does this make it look a bit infrared, but the blue base also resembles that of a Channel-billed toucan (image source):

In addition, they also lightened the body to light gray, made the blue eyes green, made the gray parts a dark yellow, swapped the yellow cheeks to blue to keep it consistent with the beak changes, and changed the red tail feathers to magenta for the same reason. While the beak is the main focus, all of these changes help elevate the shiny and make it that much more noticeable.

My only nitpick is that I'm not huge on the dark yellow bits. Outside of being kind of an ugly shade that doesn't go well with the rest of the palette, the placement also feels weird because those areas were light gray originally so that they wouldn't stick out too much. Maybe they were just trying to invoke the channel-billed toucan that much, as it does have a yellow breast and blue eyes/legs, but I think just making the gray areas lighter would've been enough distinction—it would look better visually, and I feel like the inspiration would still be obvious regardless. However, that's a minor issue.

Overall: A good, distinct shiny that works very well conceptually and is easy to tell apart from the original.

[2dmax]

some of my favorite, best, and most goodliest arts of this past year

[smashwolfen]

EYYO LOOK WHAT I GOT TODAYYYYYYYYYY

OKAMI PHYSICAL SWITCH EDITION MY BELOVED!!!!

The box art is so damn pretty and I NEVER see american releases come with a tiny lil leaflet for game controls and tips inside it! And the fact we never got an english physical release of the game and only digital is so mean, but thankfully this costs less than even some of the cheaper english games you can buy and it arrived WAY ahead of schedule yay ;;w;;

Only one teeny tiny downside.....

I was misinformed that my digital copy was gonna also work for the physical and like, load my saves there too..... it does not

THAT JUST MEANS I GOTTA 100% THIS ONE TOO ONCE IM DONE THE DIGITALLLLLLL WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE sobs in 40+ hours agaiiiiiin

Least it plays in english thanks to not being region locked, the title logo remains the same in its Japanese form, its really nice XD

Now I patiently await one more tiny Okami thing to arrive!

[vixivulpixel]

Review of Chi-Yu!

[talonflamee]

hiii me again :3 what are your thoughts on kricketune? 💖

AUGH SORRY CATT I FORGOT TO ANSWER THIS 🥹

ok so kricketune……… definitely a funny little guy! i will admit its design is a bit doofy, mainly because of the mustache, but i think that adds most of its charm. it’s more like a Guy than a pokemon to me because of that. appealing color scheme. not sure what design is happening on its abdomen but it works well enough if not a little too busy.

the strings and fine tuner markings work, but (what would be on a violin) the F holes and whatever’s on the bottom (maybe chin rest?) might've worked better just being blank. i was going to try to edit kricketune to show what i mean but i'd need my tablet and i Don't feel like it rn sorry</3. but i think if they only had the strings and fine tuner markings it would be a little less busy and have a more obvious visual connection to its inspiration, the violin beetle!

despite this small nitpick, kricketune is very unique and has an instantly recognizable silhouette. very very silly and fun personality wise. i'd love to be its friend. oh and of course DELELEWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP